Quotes

Chapter 1

"Things have a life of their own. it's simply a matter of waking up their souls." p. 2

Explanation: The quote above stands out so much because of its meaning and foreshadowing of later events in the novel I think may come. It touches basis with the mystical sense as well as the characters' essence as well, which may come into view. It shows that things happen in due time and since you never forget that anyone or anything is always capable you, can be alert because you've been forewarned.

"Incredible things are happening in the world." p. 8

Explanation: This quote shows how the world changes and how people have to adapt to it and vice versus. People learn through experience and people's eyes are opened so they are no longer ignorant to what could possibly happen. Incredible can mean both good or bad but the point is that once that thing happens, life will never be the same as it has before, hopefully for the better.

Chapter 2

"Now you really are a man." p. 34

Explanation: This quote shows how the men in the book will be treated until the women feel they deserve or have earned the rights of a man. All this time they've been searching for a man because they're not mature enough will the males themselves aren't really looking for the characteristics to make themselves even be considered as one. Sex is not the key, it's definitely more internal.

"If you do not fear God, fear him through the metals."p. 39

Explanation: This quote shows how much people value alchemy. In this chapter it is seen how characters get wrapped up in themselves because of it and become entrapped. Some have reasoning and others just follow the mode. It makes the reader wonder why people value what they do and if it's possible to pull down strongholds formed by an obsession.

Chapter 3

"Children inherit their parent's madness." p. 44

Explanation: The quote is true and self-explanatory with a powerful message. As a child one doesn't understand problems and mishaps so it's up to the parents to take care of them before the child is brought into the world or at least make an effort to work on them. When the children grow up and realize bad habits of their parents either with knowledge they'll decide to take a different route or inherit all their flaws which starts a vicious cycle that a generation has to eventually break.

"If we don't ever, sleep again, so much the better that we can get more out of life." p. 48

Explanation: This is a terrible way of thinking that hungers for the abnormal and goes against the saying that things are the way they are because they are supposed to be. The people have made this plague a positive thing/advantage, but when does this become too much. They eventually will overexert having more time than is needed and will run out of things to do causing them to go mad.

Chapter 4

"Love is a disease." p. 75

Explanation: This quote happens to elaborate on the negative side of love. The heartbreak, the state of being unrequited, and the sense of loneliness. Knowing it is great until it goes wrong or you lose it. It's addictive and can drive you crazy. It is a necessary evil.

"You're going to be happy." p. 83

Explanation: This quote shows that there is some inspiration in spite of disaster in this novel. There's hope that things will change and as long as that exists in at least one person, who can make a difference, things can illuminate into something great.

Chapter 5

"The only effective thing is violence." p. 107

Explanation: The quote above centers on the objective of one side of the spectrum of violence and diplomacy. Choosing negativity as the first let alone as the only alternative is a bad way to think as far as where the world would be today if everyone thought that way. Serenity and peacefulness as methods of solutions should be sought out first while violence is to be put on the back burner to be used only if/or when it's necessary. The pen (mentally) is stronger than the sword (physically).

"(This is) not madness, (but) war." p. 111

Explanation: The quote gave justice to any act done in war no matter how vindictive it might have been because it is war. There is still some type of decorum and rights of others should be considered because you'd might not like if someone did those same actions toward you. Your way should be sought out through the most calm and rational thinking not by any means, period.

Chapter 6

"Look at the empty house, our children scattered all over the world, and the two of us alone again, the same as in the beginning." p. 116

Explanation: It's true that towards the end, it seems as if, or at least you think about the way it was in the beginning. We come from the Earth to die and go back to the Earth again. The cycle of life. Nature has to run its course.

"You're the shame of our family name." p. 125 (Ursula to Arcadio)

Explanation: The truth is their was no shame if the name was already in shambles. What was there to disgrace if a real reputation was minimalized by its oldest ancestor. It wasn't his place to continue the shame but neither was it his fault to be born a Buendia as well.

Chapter 7

“ I was born a son of a bitch and I’m going to die a son of a bitch.” P. 140

Explanation: This quote stood out because it makes a statement about the character. It says that Captain Carnicero is fierce and ready to grab life by the horns no matter what his fate may be. This may a conceited connotation but some of the other characters in the novel should stand up and take care of their responsibilities as well like a real man or woman should instead of hiding behind nonsense.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve come to realize only just now that I’m fighting because of pride.” P. 148

Explanation: It’s quite strange how the colonel, Aureliano Buendia, had no clue of what he firmly stood for and at that, that he was ashamed of it. In recent times for pride to be a motive to go to war was a good thing but apparently during the times of this novel it is not. Colonel Aureliano Buendia was so passionate about war with all that he possessed and since he questions his reasoning for having made the decision to be a participant, that makes me wonder what other actions he has come to second guess and is it too late?

Chapter 8

“We’ve lost him forever.” P. 159

Explanation: The quote above is true but not only can Ursula say that about her son Colonel Aureliano Buendia but also about a vast amount of others in her family tree. Time after time, cyclically, has patterns of solitude repeated itself to the point where mentally if not physically as well, beyond death but more towards an absence from reality has this been seen so often in a typical Buendia.

“They’re all alike, at first they behave very well, they’re obedient and prompt and they don’t seem capable of killing a fly, but as soon as their beards appear, they go to ruins.” P. 166

Explanation: This quote goes hand in hand with the one mentioned above but geared more specifically toward the males of the family. Ursula, over her lifetime, has come to realize the terrible trend the men in her family have picked up. They tend to allow their experience and even others’ to change them, which are such a horrible thing, but predominantly they’ve changed them for the worse. They’ve strayed away from their duties as leaders and protectors of the home and have become menaces to themselves and society.

Chapter 9

“How strange men are, they spend their lives fighting against priests and then give prayer books as gifts.” P. 176

Explanation: This quote shows how contradicting and obscene the people in the town have and continue to become. They are indecisive and unsure of what they really need. If more thought were put forth, responsible decisions would be made for the better sake of all who’s affected.

“You’re rotting alive” p. 179

Explanation: This quote sums up the presence of the characters, which is as if they are the walking dead. Their decisions are done without clear thinking for the greater good and their inner deterioration plays such a toll on all. The more continue to follow their chosen routes they will be nothing alive or dead because they decided not to take advantage of their opportunities to make a difference and fulfill their reason for existing.

Chapter 10

“That’s what they’re all like, crazy from birth.” P. 198

Explanation: The quote is just evidence and more reassurance of what I, as the reader, have noticed from the beginning as a form of foreshadowing. The acts that were done were just ridiculous. Some points were granted because this is fiction but then you have to say what were they really thinking with all the confinement, all the incest and more that was, for the most part, considered as being accepted but it's good to know that at least someone knew that what they were doing wasn't all it was imagined to be.

"Don't waste your time any more, the women in this house are worse than mules." p. 213

Explanation: This quote simply shows how Aureliano Segundo as well as probably other males view the Buendia women. They see them as stubborn and so far past being only determined in their ways. To men, if they can't get what they want from a woman then what's the object? The foreigner believed none of what he heard for he believed Remedios the Beauty was worth it. His actions weren't in vain though they got him no where, but instead I think going above and beyond should be for someone you know to be true not based solely on looks that in this case can KILL.

Chapter 11

"We're becoming people of quality." p.228

Explanation: Macondo and it's people were finding an identity and place in the world. It was becoming it's own and well-known to newcomers. There was a trend that mad everything the same and now that mode was being broken...finally someone's cries had been heard from above.

"It's coming, something frightful like a kitchen dragging a village behind it." p. 239

Explanation: The premonitions throughout the novel have been pretty much exact though no one really takes heed to them as they should. Hopefully people will begin to listen to the signs and make good decisions before the worst, somehting like Armageddon occurs stopping any other Buendia from ever existing, forever.

Chapter 12

"Look at the mess we got ourselves into." p. 246

Explanation: This quote has been the spirit and what has needed to be said throughout the entire book. Each and every situation has been drama on top of drama. Finally someone has set back and said we've spilled this milk and now it's time to clean it up.

"A person doesn't die when he should but when he can." p. 260

Explanation: Backs up the notion that you are the controller of your fate. No matter what, you have a choice, maybe not when you die but how you die, not physically but .

Chapter 13

"The years nowadays don't pass the way the old ones used to." p. 263

Explanation - Children grew faster and feelings developed differently. Reality was slipping for all.

"You have a heart of stone." p. 277

Explanation - Everyone in the novel typically showed not too much emotion as they should have or may have wanted to.

Chapter 14

"Just think, what the colonel must be thinking in his grave." p. 295

Explanation - This quote touched basis on what anyone in the family who had died was probably thinking about what the family had done to itself. It was going downhill with no one there to save it because they were too wrapped up in themselves besides Ursula and Santa Sofia.

“I don’t need cards to tell the future of a Buendia.” P. 310

Explanation - It was the fact that she was already in the family, which made her know, and because everyone in the town knew that the family was cyclical. Their trends and behaviors repeated themselves so much that it was easy for everyone to see.

Chapter 15

“It’s as if the world were repeating itself.” P. 320

Explanation: This quote is self-explantory and true. Everything in Macondo was happening over and over just different generations of people who had the same characteristics and names.

“Nothing has happened in Macondo and nothing ever will happen. This is a happy town.” P. 333

Explanation: This quote was what people of Macondo wanted to believe and what they wanted foreigners to believe as well. It was superficial and imaginary and the only way for it to really exist was for the people themselves of Macondo to wake up and make a change.

Chapter 16

“I’m only waiting for the rain to stop in order to die.” P. 345

Explanation: Not only did Ursula feel this way but so did others in Macondo. They had no hopes of anything grand in life but to die because the rain had taken their motivation away. They were left with grief and sorrow; a sense of nothingness.

“Macondo was in ruins.” P. 355

Explanation - This was really how Macondo was and the Buendia family as a whole. No one was really prospering or living their lives happily. Everything externally and internally was being destroyed and no one was to blame but themselves.

Chapter 17

“A person can’t live in neglect like this.” P. 360

Explanation: No one could put up with being in solitude forever because surely it would drive them crazy. There would always be something they would lack because of not having that human interaction because they were pushed away from someone they probably needed to make their lives make sense.

“Time Passes.” P.361

Explanation: As seasons change you with think that through experiences, people would to, but contrary to that saying the people in Macondo didn't progress with time but decline. Indeed time did pass and things only got worse. There would be moments of joy but that, like the drizzles during the plague of a rain, was a sign that the next bad thing to come would be even greater.

Chapter 18

"I give up." p. 387

Explanation: It's no surprise that someone in this chapter would give up because throughout the novel they, the Buendias, had been doing it all along. They were to blame for their downfalls and only them. Things were the way they were because they allowed them to be that way...No Excuses.

"Everything is known." p. 402

Explanation: God knows everything even though we as humans have a chance to change our fate at any point and time since we have free-will and a conscience. We may have the option to choose but the route we choose is destiny from the day we are born so really there are no coincidents or mysteries as what's to come. It's not really expected but then again it is. There's just enough to keep you wondering but not have you worried.

Chapter 19

"Fool!" p. 423

Explanation: They were all fools, blind to the truth that laid right in front of them, clear as day. After almost one hundrend years, something had to click. Some type of differences had to be made. Some trick to life should have been figured out but it hadn't. The same mistakes had been repeated over and over, which made the characters lose pity let alone empathy from the reader, but instead madness, because they can't understand, 'Why?'

"There was no mystery in the heart of a Buendia that was impenetrable for her because a century of cards and experience had taught her that the history of the family was a machine with unavailable repititions..." p.425

Explanation: This quote simply showed how unpredictable the Buendias were. If there was one thing you could count on it was that a Buendia would be a Buendia in the midst of their solitude. It didn't take the cards or even experience after all those years to tell that because as the saying goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you, but after the second time, with graces being spared, Fool me twice, shame on ME.'

Chapter 20

“The world must be all fucked up.” P. 431

Explanation: The quote above said it best. I mean with all this tragedy, the worst of the worst, what else is there to look forward to? If bad things just keep happening and happening, one must think, it can’t be just be me, it has to be the world? But the question comes back to the asker and says well I (the world) may be messed up but you are apart of me, so if I’m messed up, it’s because you allowed me to be, which is true. Things are the way they were because the Buendias let them be, no one to blame but himself or herself.

“What hurts me most is all the time we wasted.” P. 435

Explanation: Time truly was wasted, even when there was more of it during the insomnia plague, the time was never actually spent doing something constructive and probably if it had, none of Macondo’s habitants would feel that the predicament they’re currently in, they didn’t deserve. Their reward, though not so handsome, was due to them. And regrets should have been bestowed upon their heads because they made contradictory mistakes that could have been nipped in the bud from day one.